Puritan Public Relations Mishap

As mentioned previously, my wife and I have taken to reading Puritan prayers as part of our dinner-time devotions together. Now, I have had to do a great deal of public relations work when explaining my adoration of the English Puritans (I'm told that I have Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter to blame). Yet, I fear that even my best efforts are in tough after we prayed a particular prayer on the weekend when we had guests over for dinner. Humorously, the title of the prayer we shared with our friends was "The Dark Guest", and it opened with great force: "O Lord, bend my hands and cut them off..." As my Uncle Bill would say, "Awkward."

My quest to right the distorted Puritan image was once again made more difficult; however, I gladly persevere for those spiritual giants who would pray prayers like "The Dark Guest", which is not about mutilation of the body, but the mortification of sin and the pursuit of God's daily graces. Here's how the prayer ends: 

"There is no treasure so wonderful
     as that continuous experience of thy grace 

          toward me which alone can subdue 

               the risings of sin within: 

                    Give me more of it."

Arthur Bennett, ed., The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions (Edinburgh, UK: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1975), 126-127.